We were lucky to catch up with Valerie Chiang recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Valerie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

My platform’s name is Doll & Dollhouse.

As a child, my favorite activity to do was to play, by myself, with my large set of dolls, dollhouses, and doll accessories. Playing with dolls allowed me to explore my inner world and expand my imagination in ways that were not possible in the real world, especially as a young kid.

I could live out a different identity every day through the dolls and their backstories. I learned to empathize with the needs and feelings of my dolls in scenarios that friends or classmates couldn’t provide (ex: creating a scenario where my doll jumps out of a plane and loses a leg, and trying to understand the emotional gravity of someone in that specific situation). I developed my creative, artistic, and visual preferences through the dolls’ clothing styles. I lived out my dreams and fantasies in a safe, controlled setting.

As an adult, one of my greatest foundational beliefs that underly pretty much every aspect of my life is: “We should all pursue our greatest dreams and absolutely love what we do in life with a passion.” Figuring out what we love to do though, requires us to experiment, try new things, and understand ourselves well enough on a deep level to know what fits us and what does not.

I created Doll & Dollhouse with myself as a target customer – someone who values autonomy and freedom, wants to live around the world, wants to be passionate about my career… but doesn’t know exactly what they want to do in life. I have met many people around the world who are in this same boat.

I spent many years (decades, even) googling and YouTubing “A Day in the Life of (Various Careers)” to try to understand what people in various industries do, so that I could see if the career could possibly match my personality. The careers that I investigated tended to be autonomous and a bit unconventional, outside the norm of even freelance jobs that one would normally see on LinkedIn. Then, the idea suddenly came to me to consolidate that information into a single platform.

While trying to imagine how this platform would look and feel, I began to reminisce on my times in childhood playing with my dolls. I began to imagine that we all are dolls, able to switch about our identities, and learn from each other from a place of curiosity and desire for expansion.

So I thought the name “Doll & Dollhouse” was perfect. The entrepreneurs on my site are called “Career Dolls,” while their specific work environments and niches represent their unique dollhouses. The customers are dolls who are looking for their perfect, matching dollhouse!

Valerie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Doll & Dollhouse currently aims to be a community and resource for people, of all backgrounds all over the world, who want to pursue their passions and live autonomously through their careers. The Career Dolls on our platform offer:
1) Information Sessions: for those who want to know more about their specific career / role
2) Coaching Sessions: for those who want to take actionable steps towards building out their business as that specific role

While similar career coaching platforms already exist in the market, I am steering Doll & Dollhouse in the direction of providing information / knowledge for people who are the at the stage of not quite knowing what exactly they’d like to do but are open to exploring the possibilities.

The careers that the platform features also differ from many of the existing career platforms. Most of our Career Dolls make money through careers that do not require a significant amount of initial investment or education, allow for autonomous work as solopreneurs (though some have their own corporations with multiple employees), and still offer very lucrative earnings despite the relatively low barriers to entry.

Most, if not all, of our career dolls have pursued their passions due to their passion itself. Many openly express that they did not pick their careers for money or for the sake of career itself, but for values such as passion, success based on personal fulfillment, and the freedom of working for self.

And almost all of our Career Dolls were found through Instagram (as opposed to a more traditional career site like LinkedIn), where they can show off both their work and their personalities / personal lives.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

The Harry Potter books have been some of the most valuable sources of life lessons for me, particularly when it comes to understanding and managing emotions. These books offer more than just a magical world; they provide profound insights into the complexity of the human experience, especially how we navigate our inner worlds. As I look back on the many years I’ve spent absorbed in J.K. Rowling’s universe, I realize that the lessons about bravery, love, loss, and identity have shaped much of how I approach life today.

One of the most impactful lessons comes from the way the characters deal with their emotions. Take Harry Potter, for example. He’s constantly battling within himself—struggling with loneliness, self-doubt, and anger. But the beauty of his journey is that he doesn’t let these emotions define him. Instead, he learns to accept them, confront them, and use them as tools for growth. In the face of dark forces, Harry’s emotional vulnerability becomes his greatest strength, as he is able to connect with others through his struggles and find support in his friendships. This concept—finding strength in vulnerability—has been invaluable in my own life, especially when I’ve faced moments of uncertainty about who I am or where I’m going.

Beyond Harry, the relationships between all the characters in the series offer a masterclass in emotional intelligence. Hermione Granger, for example, represents the power of self-awareness and intellect, while Ron Weasley embodies loyalty and compassion. These characters show that our emotions are not something to be ashamed of but are a part of what makes us uniquely capable of navigating the world. I’ve learned so much about the importance of self-reflection, the complexity of relationships, and the power of emotional resilience from these beloved characters.

The magical world itself also offers metaphors for how we handle our emotions. The pensieve, for instance, allows characters to literally dive into their memories and examine their feelings from a distance. This has inspired me to look at my own emotions with a more analytical eye, rather than being swept away by them. The journey of understanding one’s inner world is often messy, but it’s also incredibly enriching. Harry, Hermione, and Ron’s growth throughout the series—moving from naive children to emotionally mature adults—mirrors the process we all go through as we try to understand ourselves and our place in the world.

This sense of emotional growth resonates deeply with the work I’m doing through Doll & Dollhouse. Just like the characters in the books, we all are on a journey to explore our identities, to understand our emotions, and to find our purpose.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One important life lesson that I have learned, which forms the foundation of my willingness to take risks in my business, involves the theme of codependency vs interdependency.

Growing up, many adults / tv shows / movies / book characters / etc. exhibited codependent behaviors that formed my early understanding of relationships. I understood the underlying message of relationships as “I am responsible for the feelings of other people.” This deeply engrained belief manifested in various issues in my life, such as social anxiety, fear of letting other people down, fear of taking risks, fear of failure, and a growing sense of resentment that I couldn’t feel very free.

The turning point came when I started my business before Doll & Dollhouse. I explored the spiritual route of energy healing, life coaching, and tarot readings, where I was forced to look at my own limiting beliefs around relationships in order to best serve my clients and customers.

Becoming more conscious of this inner codependent belief has helped me make changes in my life that allow me to pursue more of my own authentic priorities and passions. For example, I have learned to speak my true feelings more despite potential rejection from others, follow my own way of living despite potential lack of support, etc.

Integrating my belief into my life of “I am worthy of being authentically myself while still cooperating with others” has led me to form Doll & Dollhouse. Doll & Dollhouse is a platform of collaboration, as my business succeeds from partnerships with both buyers (customers) and sellers (Career Dolls). I feel strong enough to set standards for my platform, while also learning to negotiate how to best serve others without sacrificing my own values.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dollanddollhouse.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dollanddollhouse/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dollanddollhouse.co/
• Other: Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dollanddollhouse.co

Image Credits

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